Paul Finebaum explains why college football will struggle to catch up to the NFL

Paul Finebaum believes college football is convoluted. However, the product on the field is far from the issue. As football ratings continue to set records on a yearly basis, Paul Finebaum explained why college football will struggle to match the NFL’s success.

“I don’t think it is possible,” Finebaum said during an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “The one thing The NFL has going for it that college football doesn’t is everyone is rowing the boat in the same direction. Why? Because they have brilliantly been able to to make sure that every single network that matters is all in.

“In college football, you essentially have ESPN and FOX, and there are a couple of other minor entities. So, it’s convoluted. Everybody’s got a different approach. Everybody’s got a different philosophy. Nobody works together.”

While the NFL is broadcast on just as many networks, if not more than college football, it doesn’t include conference-specific networks. Moreover, each conference is in constant competition with one another for the best media rights deals.

Competition, in general, is one of the largest differences between college football and the NFL. Due to a lack of leadership and, more importantly, the ability to enforce said leadership, college football teams are often scrambling for any advantage they can find.

That scrambling doesn’t exclude the search for guaranteed television contracts, and which conference can provide that. Hence, the college football landscape has undergone a massive makeover the past two years as teams attempt to secure their financial future.

The NFL doesn’t have this issue. The rules apply to every team, but every team also reaps the financial security of the successful league. Paul Finebaum believes the NCAA needs to take a page out of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s book if it hopes to fix some of its issues.

“The NCAA is a disaster,” Finebaum said. “Everybody wants to give Roger Goodell the credit. He is powerful, but he also answers to 32 people. Nobody in college football answers to anyone.

“I think somewhere along the way, and I don’t know how [SEC commissioner] Greg Sankey and [Big Ten commissioner] Tony Petitti could do it — because those right now are the two controlling entities in college football — they have to sit down with Roger Goodell and strike some sort of accommodation because I think Goodell is a college football fan.

“I’ve seen him at games… What did he gain from playing those two marquee games on December 20, at the same time that Penn State was playing and later when Texas was playing? I mean, they didn’t really have to have that day, but they did it because there were some difficulties with college football over another date that the college football wouldn’t move on.”